Today, Columbus, Cleveland and Cincinnati all have a large population of home brewers and craft beer fans whoneed to leave the state in order to find beer that we can't get in Ohio because of the 12% ABV cap on beer.

We do not believe this is about "getting drunk", it's more about experiencing good craft beer. I firmly believe that we need to find beer in our own state instead of stimulating the economies and increasing the tax revenue of other states.

At the time of this writing I have 464 signatures within only two days of the petition being published with new signatures every couple minutes. If you believe in this cause, would you please pass this around to the members of your home brew club and to family and friends elsewhere?

I already emailed a few legislators about the petition. It has been proposed in Ohio to raise the ABV from 12 - 18% but I don't know if it has a lot of support. That's where this petition comes into play.

EDIT: I read somewhere that the proposal to increase the ABV limit on beer to 18% has been removed from the budget in 2011

The first thing you want to do is try to get the craft brewers in the state to endorse your proposal. You can also try to get the distributors on board although they may be tied to one of the BMC corporations and unwilling to break ties. You will need their support because the legislature isn't going to take it seriously if the regulated industry in question doesn't care. Once you have tentative agreements in the industry then you can get petitions passed around the state with actual signatures of OH citizens.

Then you need to draft the legislation and have your industry contacts approve the proposed language and provide firm endorsements. Ask if they will write endorsement letters explaining how it would be good for the state. Then submit the proposed legislation, endorsements and petitions to the offices of all the representatives and senators in the state. Then call, call, call to find reps and senators who will support the bill and introduce it.

It's going to be a long, hard battle. Raising the ABV limit on beer in the state isn't much of a pressing issue and you'll likely encounter resistance from liquor, wine and big brewery businesses and industry groups. You may have to keep submitting it through several legislative sessions.